4 52 HY.ENAS 



and the hyaena, when his scare was over, returned and ate the bait 

 that was tied on the muzzle. Hyaena-pups are usually born in March 

 and April, and I believe the number in a litter to be four." 



The cries and sounds uttered by the spotted hyaena are all hideous 

 and disconcerting ; the most common being described as a weird 

 " who-oop." Round a carcase these hideous brutes keep up a kind of 

 laughing cackle ; while when baffled, or otherwise disconcerted, they 

 give vent to a snarling whine, and if trapped or wounded to a hoarse 

 growl. They are said at times to attempt an imitation of the lion's 

 roar, although no one has described the mimicry as successful. To 

 the sportsman hyaenas of all kinds are an unmitigated nuisance : they 

 devour his baits — whether live or dead — set for nobler game, destroy 

 his best trophies when put to dry, and generally make themselves 

 obnoxious. Little wonder that they often receive a bullet out of sheer 

 spite. 



THE BROWN HYyENA 



{Hycena brunneii) 

 Strand- Wolf, Cape Dutch 



The second representative of the hyaenas is the brown species, 

 which formerly ranged from the extreme south of Cape Colony to 

 Angola on the west and the Kilimanjaro district in the east ; but in the 

 more settled parts of the country has been so harried by shooting, 

 poisoning, and trapping, that it has now become a comparatively rare 

 animal. In some respects it is intermediate between the spotted and 

 the striped species, although it differs from the former and resembles 

 the latter in the presence of a distinct posterior projection or heel to 

 the last lower tooth. Standing about 28 inches at the shoulder, the 

 brown hyaena is characterised by the mantle of long brown hair draping 

 the body, and the absence of a distinct mane or crest. Grizzled brown, 

 faintly brindled on the flanks and buttock with broad transverse 

 stripes of a darker brown, is the colour of the long body-hair ; but 

 there is a gorget of dirty yellow on the throat and sides of the neck. 

 The tail, which is much more bushy than in the spotted species, is dark 

 brown ; and the limbs, on which the hair is short and stiff, are heavily 

 barred with blackish brown or black. 



The species derives its name of strand-wolf from its habit, in the 

 days of its abundance, of frequenting the shores of Table Bay and 



